


The Best Part of Waking Up

by lavenderlotion



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Brother/Brother Incest, Canon Divergence - Post X-Men: First Class (2011), First Kiss, Flirting, Getting Together, Homecoming, Inspired by Folgers "Home for the Holidays" Commercial, M/M, hand-holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:48:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28383489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavenderlotion/pseuds/lavenderlotion
Summary: “I must have the wrong house,” Alex says, his smile gorgeous, and Scott’s heart twists around itself.Scott points to himself and says, “Scott,” in case he’s actually serious.
Relationships: Alex Summers/Scott Summers
Comments: 22
Kudos: 35





	The Best Part of Waking Up

**Author's Note:**

> i can’t believe i haven’t done this before wow

Scott’s heart is up in his throat as he paces the length of his kitchen, the tips of his fingers running across the cool marble countertop as he tries to ignore the way they’re shaking. He couldn’t sleep. No matter what he did to try to nod off, he was stuck awake, tossing and turning and absolutely miserable. After hours of lying in bed awake, he’s just given up. 

He’s not surprised that he wasn’t able to fall asleep, but it still sucks. Letting out a heavy sigh, Scott glances at the clock on the kitchen counter and hangs his head down between his shoulders when he realizes it’s not even six. Almost on their own, his fingers go to the pocket of his pyjama pants, where there’s a folded up letter he’s long-since memorized, but pulls out so he can feel the grooves of his brother’s handwriting along the brittle paper. 

This is why he’s been awake all night. His fingers trace over the quickly written “ _ I love you so much”, _ impressed into the paper like a careless thought, so natural to write that Alex hadn’t even had to think about it. Now, Scott stares at the lazy loops of his letters and the way they’re strung together and wonders what they’d sound like in Alex’s voice. 

He... fuck, he can’t even remember what Alex sounds like. It’s been so long since Scott last saw him that he doesn’t even really know what Alex looks like, not outside the handsome little photo Alex sent him that Scott keeps in his wallet. The edges are worn down from how many times he’s taken it out just to  _ look, _ setting it on his desk as he reads the latest letter so he can imagine the man in the picture reading the words to him.

But Scott doesn't  _ know _ Alex. Not after seven years. Not when Scott was just a kid the last time he saw his brother. Alex left, arrested, and then... Scott still isn’t totally sure what Alex did between getting out of prison and going to fight. He knows when he got the very first letter, Alex was working with the government, but then he didn’t get another one until his brother was in basic, years later. 

That’s when the letters really started. Now it’s been almost a year of sending letters back and forth, and Scott once again reads over the one in his hand. His lips draw up into a smile as he reads, again, that Alex is  _ coming home. _ That he’s looking forward to seeing him. To knowing him. 

Scott wonders if that’s  _ all _ Alex is looking forward to, and then tells himself to calm right down. Thinking ahead isn’t going to do him any good, not when the thoughts are just going to rattle around in his head, all spurred on by his anxious insecurity. 

He does his very best to shove that all away, pushing off the kitchen counter and moving over to the window. It’s so late it’s early, but Alex hadn’t been clear on when he’d be home. Scott curls up on the couch beside the window and rests his head against the plush cushion, staring out onto the snow-dusted street to wait. He yawns widely, flicking his eyes over to the tree sat in the corner and wishing the lights were on. 

Time draws on. Scott doesn’t follow asleep but he doesn’t stay completely awake, either. He blinks, and his heavy eyes stay closed until he manages to pull them open. 

Minutes that might be hours pass before a cab pulls up against the curb right in front of their house. Scott startles awake, pushing himself onto his knees to lean over the couch and get closer to the window. His heart starts racing the second Alex stands from the cab, and it climbs up into his throat as a smile curls around his lips. He rushes to the front door and ignores the way he feels like he’s going to pass out, focusing instead on the fact that Alex is home! 

He watches Alex walk up the driveway from the window beside the front door, suddenly too terrified to move. Scott wipes his sweating palms on his pants, glad he’s wearing his nice jeans. The shirt that he has on is Alex’s, which he sent to him after Scott wrote that he wished he had something of Alex’s other than the collection of letters Scott kept. He sure as hell wasn’t expecting a soft, baggy t-shirt to arrive, but he’s worn it almost every night since. 

His hands are shaking  _ so bad _ but he can’t move them to the door. All he wants is to pull it open, welcome Alex in, but it feels like an impossible task until Alex steps onto the front step, and Scott is finally able to see the details of his face, distorted as they are through the glass. 

Scott doesn’t wait for Alex to ring the doorbell. He  _ can’t  _ wait, not when Alex is  _ right there,  _ right on the other side of the door. Scott pushes down the feeling that he’s gonna  _ puke  _ and swings the door open, his face burning with a blush as excitement thrums under his skin. 

Alex is... Alex is so handsome Scott aches with it. His hair is short, cropped close to his head, but long enough Scott can tell it’s light blonde. His is probably darker, he thinks, as he pushes his bangs out of his eyes and trails them down Alex’s frame. He’s taller. Not by a lot, but enough that Scott has to look up to meet his eyes. He’s in a jacket, wearing faded jeans, and he’s so beautiful.

“I must have the wrong house,” Alex says, his smile  _ gorgeous, _ and Scott’s heart twists around itself.

Scott points to himself and says, “Scott,” in case he’s actually serious. 

“Yeah,” Alex whispers, his smile getting smaller but no less beautiful. Alex drops his heavy-looking bag to the front step, shoulders dropping. “Y-Yeah. Hey, Scotty.”

That’s all he needs to launch himself forward. Alex catches him, his arms going iron tight around his waist as Scott throws his own around Alex’s shoulders to drag him close. He lets out a hysterical laugh as he clutches at the back of Alex’s neck, the stubble of Alex’s short hair tickling his palm. He presses as close as he can, standing on his toes and letting all of his weight fall forward, trusting Alex to take it, taking  _ him, _ and grinning widely when he does. 

Scott breathes in deep, breathes in the smell of  _ Alex, _ and lets it rush over him. Alex smells different than Scott would have expected. It’s woodsier than he would have imagined, like Scott just stepped into the forest he hikes in, and he takes big, greedy gulps of air. He’s terrified that if he doesn't memorize it, he’ll forget. God, he’s just terrified. It’s so much. 

Alex’s arms are squeezing him so tightly that he can barely  _ breathe _ but he doesn't care, especially not when Alex leans back and takes him off his feet. Scott laughs, completely breathless and overwhelmed, and feeling like he’s flying out of his skin as Alex’s hands keep him held together. 

He whimpers. Makes a noise that sounds too raw. 

All Alex does is hold him tighter. 

“C’mon, Scotty, we gotta get you inside,” Alex says against his neck, but he doesn’t move. 

Scott doesn’t move either, not sure if he’s strong enough to leave the tight embrace of his brother’s arms. Alex lets him back down, but Scott doesn’t pull away even when his feet are flat on the ground. He gives himself a few more deep breaths before he finally pulls back, trailing the tips of his fingers down Alex’s arms as he goes. 

Finally, he lets his arms fall to his sides, but he misses Alex the second his fingers leave him. All he wants to do is keep touching, to curl up inside his skin and never leave. Having Alex in front of him lets him  _ breathe _ for the first time. 

“Inside,” Scott whispers, lost in the shifting bands of blue that make up Alex’s eyes. 

“Inside,” Alex agrees, a smile crossing his face that bunches up the skin around his eyes.

Scott nods and goes to reach for Alex’s bag, but Alex makes a little noise of protest and grabs his hand before he can even get close. His eyes snap up to find Alex watching him with a little frown, though it melts into a smile under his gaze. “You gonna show me around?” Alex asks, with the same small, handsome smile that he’s wearing in the photo Scott has. 

It’s so much more attractive in person. 

Something warm swirls around Scott’s stomach when Alex laces their fingers together. He swallows heavily, doing his best to ignore the rough calluses that decorate his brother’s hand and absolutely  _ not _ thinking about how they’d feel on his body. That is... absolutely not a train of thought he needs to go down,  _ especially _ with how many times he’s laid in bed and thought of exactly that. 

Thankfully, Alex bends down to grab his bag and then gives Scott an expectant look. A flush warms his cheeks, but he straightens up and takes a step back, not looking where he’s going and almost falling over. He makes a noise that sounds quite a bit like a little  _ “eep” _ but Alex draws him in and steadies him, their fingers still wound together. 

“Carefully, Scotty,” Alex whispers, pressing a kiss to his temple that draws a whimper he can’t bite down out of his throat. “I can’t have ya gettin’ hurt. I just got back to you.”

Scott steadies himself with a hand against Alex’s stomach. He hears Alex suck in a deep breath and let it out in something like a rumble that warms Scott’s belly. He doesn’t move away and Alex doesn’t move him away, so Scott lets himself soak in the moment until the cold gets too biting against his bare arms and he has to pull back. 

“C’mon,” Scott whispers, trying to find his voice. “It’s cold.”

Alex makes a noise of agreement and squeezes his fingers. When Scott finally draws back, Alex is looking at him with a small, sweet smile that twists his stomach up in warm knots. He ducks his head, feeling too much and not knowing what to do with any of it, not when Alex is looking at him like  _ that, _ not when all he wants to hear is Alex tell him he loves him. 

He doesn’t ask, doesn’t even know how he  _ would. _ Instead, he draws Alex into their house and gently closes the door behind them. Their parents are still asleep and... well, Scott hasn’t told them that Alex is coming and he doesn’t know if Alex has, either. 

One thing they never talked about during the months of sending letters back and forth, months when Scott  _ fell in love, _ was their family. Scott didn’t bring up their parents and Alex didn’t bring up their parents and it was... easy to pretend they weren’t brothers, when Alex was gone. 

He can’t pretend now, not with Alex standing in of front him. 

“I waited up all night for you,” Scott admits, looking over his shoulder to see Alex following behind him. He’s looking at the house like he’s never seen it before, but... that’s probably how he feels. 

Their fingers are laced together, but part of Scott is still surprised he’s really here. 

“It’s a long way from Vietnam. I’m sorry I couldn’t get you a better time frame,” Alex tells him, squeezing his fingers. 

“That’s fine,” Scott whispers, not telling Alex that he would have been up anyway. He traps the confession behind his teeth, not sure what Alex would do with it. 

Scott pulls his hand away once they’re in the kitchen. He hears Alex drop his bag but crosses the room, leaning against the far counter and taking a deep breath. Scott needs a moment. He’s doing his best  _ not _ to freak out, but his heart is racing away inside his chest and his stomach is flipping around with nausea and it... it’s all so much. 

Scott is opening his mouth to say just that when Alex’s eyes seem to zero in on the counter beside him, and he crosses the room quickly. 

“Mm, real coffee,” Alex moans, and Scott bites into his bottom lip so he doesn’t echo the sound. 

He jumps onto the counter so he’s too far to reach out and touch. All he wants to do is touch, to learn the feel of Alex’s skin against his own. He knows that he shouldn’t, that it’s wrong to want, but he wants  _ so bad. _ He’s wanted so bad for so long, ever since the first letter came in and it felt, all of a sudden, like he finally had someone who might care about him. 

And now Alex is here. God. 

Alex shrugs his jacket off and tosses it across a kitchen chair. Scott bites into his bottom lip, knowing Mom won’t be happy. He’s not sure if Alex would even care, and he doesn’t want to bring it up just in case. Just having Alex in front of him, his big brother that means so much more, already feels like a dream—he doesn’t want to do anything that might wake him up. 

“I brought ya somethin’,” Alex tells him, a soft smile on his face as he finishes pouring his coffee. He tips a sip, black, and Scott makes a face at him. 

“You didn’t have to do that,” Scott says quickly, worried that he’s caused Alex to go out of his way. 

“What, you were expectin’ me not to get ya a Christmas gift?” Alex looks offended, but Scott is pretty sure he’s joking. “What type ‘a boyfr—uh. W-What type of person do you think I am?”

Scott’s heart slams against his chest, kicking against his ribs as it beats so hard that it almost hurts. His hands are shaking where they’re folded up on his lap and his stomach is twisting with nerves, turning over itself uncomfortably. Scott bites into his bottom lip until it stings and loses himself in Alex’s nervous eyes. 

He takes a deep breath, reminds himself of the  _ ‘I love you so much’  _ and tells himself it means what he wants it to mean. 

“N-No,” Scott whispers, and his voice shakes so badly he can hardly understand himself when he says, “I don’t think you’re that type of b-boyfriend.”

Alex’s eyes blow wide and he sucks in a sharp little breath that draws Scott’s eyes to his lips. They’re something else Scott has thought about, in the cover of night and locked away in his bedroom, staring at a small photo of a brother he didn’t recognize and loved too much. 

Before Scott can start freaking out, Alex clears his throat and moves back to his bag. Scott watches his back, eyes glued to the way his shoulders flex beneath the tight t-shirt he’s wearing. He tangles his fingers together tightly, keeping himself from reaching out by keeping away. When Alex turns back around, there’s a nervous smile spread across his lips that makes Scott’s heart skip a beat. 

He considers sitting on his hands when Alex comes back. Instead, he focuses on his brother’s face and tries to remind himself that the family relation should  _ mean _ something, that Scott shouldn’t want to reach out so strongly. 

“It ain’t much,” Alex says, almost shyly. 

Then he hands Scott a small box with a pretty, bright bow on the top and Scott, with shaking fingers and his heart in his throat and wondering if he’s going too far and wondering if he even cares, peels the bow off and presses it to Alex’s chest. 

Alex opens his mouth as his eyes drop to where Scott is still touching him, and he drops his hand back into his lap immediately. 

“What are you doin’? Alex whispers breathlessly. 

And Scott, just as quietly, says, “You’re my present this year.”

Alex sways forward, his stomach brushing Scott’s knees. A smile, small and almost teasing, crosses his face. Scott can’t help the way he sways forward too, drawn in by the heady warmth in his brother’s eyes. Then Alex’s eyebrows shoot halfway up his forehead, and his soft smile turns into a smirk that makes Scott’s belly warm. 

“Are you wearin’ my shirt, baby?” Alex asks him, reaching out to tug at the hem before he steps so close,  _ too close,  _ that Scott has to spread his thighs wider to make space for him. “What, ya can’t get better shit stateside?”

Considering Scott thought he was about to be  _ kissed, _ it takes him a second to make sense of Scott’s words. His forehead creases in thought, and when he makes out exactly what Alex has asked him, his face starts to burn. 

“It smelt like you,” Scott whispers. His fingers feel cold where they’re laced together. 

Alex raises an eyebrow in a way that makes him look even more handsome. “It did?” Scott can’t do anything more than nod weakly, and Alex makes a little noise. “Ya like the way it smelt?”

Scott nods again breathless, and thinks,  _ now or never.  _

So then he kisses him. 

Scott reaches out all at once; he sways forward, tangles his fingers into the t-shirt Alex is wearing to tug him close, leans up, tightens his knees around Alex’s sides to keep him close. And Alex comes, so easily, kissing him back as Scott awkwardly purses his lips. He has no idea what he’s doing but he wants it, wants it  _ so badly, _ wants so much more than just this, really. 

Alex kisses him back, and all of the worry and fear and  _ desperation _ that Scott has been feeling for days, weeks,  _ months _ melts away under his lips and the warm hands that sweep under his shirt. Scott makes a weak little noise and trails his hands up Alex’s firm chest to rest on the back of his neck, making sure he can’t get away until Scott’s lungs are burning and he has to pull back. 

Scott doesn’t go far. He stays close, resting their foreheads together. Alex bends down to make it easier, moving his head so the tip of his nose brushes against Scott’s in a way that pulls a silly, nervous giggle from his throat. 

“Scotty,” Alex whispers, his voice sounding rough.  _ “Baby.” _

“Alex,” Scott says back, heart still racing and words tumbling out of his mouth. “Do you... is this real?”

Alex’s hands move down his legs in a slow caress, squeezing his knees before sliding back up even slower. Scott’s breath hitches, and their lips brush together again, sweetly. Scott is doing his best to touch back, his fingers playing with the neckline of Alex’s shirt, pressing the tips of his fingers against the warm skin of Alex’s neck.

“I fuckin’ hope it is,” Alex tells him, the conviction in his voice settling heavily in Scott’s gut. “God, baby, I love you so much.”

Scott lets out a breathless little noise of awe at  _ finally _ hearing those words. He kisses Alex before he can even say them back, crashing their lips together. He kisses him so hard Alex  _ moans, _ which goes straight to his gut and fills him with liquid warmth. Kissing Alex is like nothing else. Scott is aware of everything and nothing all at once; he feels like he’s floating above his body but he can feel every heavy pump of his heart, the way it’s sending blood rushing through his veins. 

When Alex pulls back Scott chases after him, pressing a few more kisses against his lips before he ducks down and tucks himself under Alex’s chin. Alex tugs him close, holding him against his chest as they both breathe. 

The house is still silent around them. Scott is incredibly thankful his parents’ room is so out of the way, built into an addition off the back of the house. 

“Open the box,” Alex whispers, his breath warm against Scott’s temple. He nods his head but doesn’t move right away, pressing another kiss to Alex’s neck before he finally pulls back. 

“I didn’t get you anything,” Scott tells him with a frown. 

“Baby, you got me through the last fuckin’ year of hell,” Alex tells him seriously, something on his face that Scott doesn’t like. 

He kisses him again. 

When he pulls back, a smile is back on Alex’s face. Scott feels something like pride climb up his belly, knowing that he’s the one who put it there. 

“Okay,” Scott whispers, grabbing the box with shaking fingers. “Okay, but I’m totally going to get you something. It’s gonna be  _ awesome!” _

“I’m sure it is,” Alex tells him, and then starts tapping his fingers on Scott’s thighs. “Now open your gift!”

Scott laughs and ignores how his fingers are  _ still _ shaking with fleeting adrenaline. There’s a little piece of tape that Scott is able to peel with the edge of his nail. He looks up before opening the box to find Alex watching with him something excited in his eyes, something that makes Scott feel like he’s floating on air. 

“Okay,” he says, letting out another little laugh. He pulls the lid open and chuckles at the packed tissue paper. He pulls it out, and... “A... key?”

Alex nods and kisses him, hard enough that he loses his breath. 

“I have an apartment,” Alex whispers against his lips, and Scott whimpers as he presses closer. “Lemme take ya home, baby. I know you pro’lly don’t wanna move out yet but one day... I don’t know, but I’ve been thinkin’ we could live together?”

“Alex...” Scott trails off, his eyes burning and his heart aching, but everything feeling  _ so good, _ “god, yes, of course.”

Then Scott kisses him again, and keeps kissing him until they have to stop. 

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi to me on [tumblr](https://lavender-lotion.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> kudos aren’t the same as getting a comment, not even close. so a comment, as short and sweet or as sprawling and sporadic as you can manage, would be _greatly_ appreciated! don't know what to comment? how about _”this was great!”_ or _“awesome work!”_
> 
> i run an 18+ x-men discord server! check it out [here!](https://discord.gg/pebvUEnWB6)


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